Author Interviews 101

When you finally land that big author interview on radio or TV, do you know what to do? Many authors blow their promotional opportunity by trying to teach the audience. That's right, the attempt to teach can be a big mistake. Instead, consider this counter-intuitive approach.

Use your brief interview to tease the audience, rather than teach the audience. Now, I know the word “tease” may offend some people. You could be thinking, “It’s not right to tease my audience, that’s manipulation or shameless self-promotion.” If you feel that way, then let’s discuss the most ethical action you could take towards your audience.

For example, let’s say you wrote a non-fiction book that helps parents communicate better with their children. Or, maybe you wrote a novel about a woman overcoming deep tragedy. What is the best thing to do for your interview listeners? Is it wise to overwhelm your audience by trying to cover every teaching point you can cram into 10 minutes? Most people won’t remember what you say. So, wouldn’t it be wiser to use your interview to motivate people to get your complete message?

It’s actually more beneficial to your audience if you use an interview to lead people to what they really need – your whole book. You can throw a ton of information at people. But, that’s like a doctor throwing a box of Band-aids to someone who asks for help with a serious illness. Band-aids won’t cure the problem. Instead, a good doctor forgoes a short-term request, and leads the patient down a path to get fully cured.

Your job during an author interview is no different. Use the brief time to engage the audience, get them interested in your message, and inspire them to go buy your book.

Track Your Author Website Effectiveness

Just because you have a website doesn’t mean that it’s effective. Fortunately, there are easy ways to track if your website is helping to build your author platform.

First, you can monitor tangible outcomes, such as tracking new subscribers to your newsletter, speaking engagement inquiries, media interview requests, or book sales from your website. If you send visitors to Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.com (which I don’t recommend) you can check your book’s ranking and see if it improves. Use www.TitleZ.com to gauge your book's Amazon ranking over time.

Another good tracking tool is to analyze your website statistics. If your web designer or hosting company doesn’t provide this information, you can set it up for free with Google Analytic (www.Google.com/Analytics). After you create a free account, Google will provide you with special computer code that you embed into your website’s individual pages. Once you do this, then Google will track all of your website data for you.

When you examine your website statistics, however, make sure you concentrate on the right information. For example, basing your site’s effectiveness on how many “hits” or “pageviews” you get is a flawed notion. These are inflated figures that don’t give you accurate information about your web traffic. A better guide is to track how many “Unique Visitors” your site receives. This number reflects how many different people actually visited your site, which is a better reflection of your real platform.

If you notice a decline in visitors, sales, signups, or other factors, it could mean that people are bored with your website. So, take time each month to assess where you can add new content that provides value to your readers. If you run out of ideas, bring in guests with a similar message. People will appreciate your desire to help them, and they’ll show it by returning to your website on a regular basis. And, the more often people return, the more likely they will buy your books.

May Comparison of ECPA Publishers

Check out the May Amazon rankings for the Top 15 ECPA Publishers. This research lets you see both the overall CBA industry rankings, plus each publisher's individual top 20 bestselling book list.

Why is this information helpful to you? This is one of the few ways that authors, agents, and publishers can simultaneously see how a publisher's best books stack up against their peers. For example, Neilsen BookScan doesn't let other publishers see the competition's sales numbers (only bestseller lists). But, WildFire's free research gives publishers a way to see which titles are selling well on Amazon at 14 other houses. This data is also helpful to see which authors, topics, and genres are dominating Amazon sales trends.

Items of Interest this Month:

a. Top-Selling Overall Titles by Amazon Ranking:
- Book: The Love Dare at # 27 from B&H Publishing.
- Bible: English Standard Version at # 45 from CrossWay.
** Rankings exclude the self-published title, The Shack, at # 9.

b. Biggest Publisher Moves:
Charisma House jumps from # 14 to # 11 this month.
David C. Cook pushes Barbour off the list at # 15.
Harvest House falls from # 7 last month to # 9 this month.

Note: Amazon rankings do not reflect accurate sales figures and only account for a small percentage of a book's total sales. However, they can help determine how specific publishers or book titles perform over time versue their peers.

Click here for an Excel spreadsheet of the April 2, 2009 rankings.

For all previous month rankings, click here.

Author Empowerment University

It's time for a new kind of "summer school." Rob Eagar is offering an affordable, group-based coaching service called the Author Empowerment University. Here's the details:

What is the Author Empowerment University?

• 3 months of advanced book marketing instruction taught by Rob Eagar.
• Group coaching with a minimum of 5 authors and a maximum size of 8.
• Weekly instruction via group teleconference calls.
• All teaching sessions will be recorded for students who miss calls or want to listen again.
• Students will have individual follow-up access to Rob via phone and email.
• Specialized tutorials and teaching guides provided by Rob.
• Students will enjoy encouragement and accountability by learning together as a small group.

What subjects are covered during the teaching sessions?

• Teach author how to make their website capture readers and market books better.
• Learn how to acquire more media interviews and increase book sales on the air.
• Discover how to obtain more speaking engagements and craft powerful keynote speeches.
• Create resources and pass-on tools that help spread word-of-mouth.
• Establish a unique brand and differentiate a book's message in a crowded marketplace.
• Utilize newsletters and social networking to build ongoing relationships with readers and leaders.

What result can students expect? (figures based on the success of Rob's previous coaching participants):

• Increased author book sales by 15 - 25%.
• Doubled author website and blog traffic.
• Newsletter growth of over 100 new subscribers per month.
• 30% increase in annual speaking events.
• Speaking fees increased by 30%.
• Contact with over 250 new targeted leaders.
• Ability to secure an extra 5 - 15 media interviews with press releases.

The fee to enroll in a group is only $2,500 per author for the 3-month program. Most authors can easily recoup this fee by landing a couple of new speaking engagement or boosting their website sales. This is the best deal available to get focused, weekly instruction at the advanced-level with Rob Eagar.

Space is limited on a first-come, first-serve basis. A new group will start as soon as five people register by May 15th.

If you would like to sign-up or get more information about the Author Empowerment University, please call 1-800-267-2045 or email: Rob@StartaWildFire.com

The Reality of a NY Times Bestseller

Thanks to literary agent, Chip MacGregor, for passing along this great author interview with novelist, Lynn Viehl. I highly recommend that every author read Lynn's recap of how she made the NY Times fiction best-seller list - and how little money she actually made. Her account will give you a healthy dose of reality about the publishing business.

Also, when Lynn says that she did little to market her novel, keep in mind that she has already had over 40 novels published. So, she's a very experienced author with a decent platform.

I really appreciate Lynn's transparency and willingness to help other authors understand the reality of this profession. The good news is that there are many new ways for authors to make income besides just relying on publisher royalties. Multiple streams of income are available for those willing to take their books and turn them into speaking engagements, audio and video products, movie and theater scripts, coaching and consulting projects, etc.

To survive financially as an author, it's crucial to "think outside the book."

Client Success Story: Mary DeMuth

Congratulations to Mary DeMuth on the quick success of her new novel, Daisy Chain. Her book just launched on March 1st, but her publisher (Zondervan) has already gone into a 3rd printing in two months! That is an incredible feat in such a tough economy.

Mary's credentials include being a finalist for the 2007 Christy Award. So, if you're a fan of fiction and aren't familiar with Mary, you need to check out her books, such as Watching the Tree Limbs and her latest novel, Daisy Chain.

Mary was also gracious to recently participate in a video testimonial about her experience as a WildFire Marketing client. To get a sense of how Rob Eagar helped Mary grow her platform, click here to watch her video. We're proud of Mary and the role model she serves to other authors!

For more client success stories, click here.

When Religion and Marketing Collide

This video is a hilarious look at what can happen when religion and marketing get a little too mixed up...

WildFire Authors Experience CBE Success

In my previous blog post, I shared the negative realities of what happened at the Christian Book Expo on March 20 - 22nd (low turnout, financial losses, lost opportunities, etc.). However, there was a positive side to the event...every WildFire Marketing client who was present experienced above-average results. Forgive me for bragging on my author clients, but their hard work and achievement deserves recognition:

Lysa TerKeurst was the only author at CBE who had a constant line during her book-signing. She garnered more attention than most of the frustrated, mega-bestselling authors who stood idle nearby. What was the difference? Lysa's daily blog was instrumental in drawing people to see her at CBE. She receives over 1,000 blog readers each day and used that part of her author platform to invite women to CBE. She reported that many attendees said, "I read your blog and really wanted to meet you." Lysa's success shows the power of smart author marketing.

In addition, Lysa's fast-growing platform also garnered her a spot at the Friday night Main Stage Showcase, which featured other elite authors, such as Max Lucado, Liz Curtis Higgs, Andy Andrews, and Henry Blackaby. The exposure created big-time awareness for her message and generated immediate speaking requests from leaders in attendance. Congrats, Lysa!

Mary DeMuth was honored as one of the only women selected to participate in the male-dominated CBE panelist discussions (2 women; 20 men...weird ratio?). She shared her expertise during the session, "Living Christianly in a Post-Christian Culture," and offered insightful perspectives to the audience. Kudos to Mary for being selected as a respected voice on culture-change issues.

Brenda Garrison experienced success at CBE the old-fashioned way - she earned it. As a first-time author, Brenda didn't have the luxury of a high-profile speaking slot or a best-selling name to help sell her books. But, that didn't stop her from getting results. Instead, Brenda consistently manned her publisher's booth, chatted with attendees, and gave away free resources chock full of value. After the event, Brenda's publishers reported that she had sold over 100 copies of her new book, which beat out most sales numbers from many experienced authors who were present. Way to go, Brenda!

Last but not least, Kathi Lipp, another first-time author, was smart enough to think outside-the-box and line up two speaking engagements in Dallas. This wise move helped her maximize the overall time spent at CBE. She sold a lot of books, added numerous names to her newsletter list, and built a stronger foundation for her message throughout the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Most authors lost money going to CBE. Meanwhile, Kathi benefited by taking a broader approach to her book marketing strategy. Great job, Kathi!

What do these four authors have in common? Each has been through the WildFire Marketing Mentor Program and learned how to apply advanced-level book marketing skills. The proof is in the results. Our training is the best available and pays for itself through increased book sales, speaking events, higher fees, etc. If you're ready to take your author career to a higher level, give me a call at 1-800-267-2045 and let's get started.